Wild Ravin Narrative

I met Travis James Votaw in the summer of 2005, at Victory Church. Each of different family members were connected with one another. Our moms were dance moms, little sister’s were in a dance class, our dad’s were in the same men ministry at our church. Needless to say, we had a lot of connections of meeting one another. My family and I never had a family that we just “clicked” with. The Votaws were just like us, only from South Texas! I remember my mama telling me that we were going to go on a day trip with the Votaws to Mt. Scott in Lawton, Oklahoma. We spent the whole day with them, it was so much fun! The one memory that I remember the most from the trip was the car rides. Kimi rode with my parents and Jessi (thank goodness they didn’t scare her off! ☺) I rode with John, Shirley, and the boys. For some reason the Votaws had a giant bag of mini pretzels. John declared a challenge for all of us to do, it was to eat the inside of the pretzel without destroying the outer ring. Needless to

've been interviewed a couple of time before and let me tell you; it is hard! I'm the kind of person who HATES being spontaneous. I like to methodically organize and plan every single thing that comes beforehand. "I'll just wing it" is a phrase that will never come out of my mouth.

Exactly two years ago today, I lost the five most important people in my life.

Sitting on the couch, four-year-old Gia was enraptured by the Disney movie playing on the television. Enthralled by the scenes occurring in front of her, she watched as the charming young prince returned the glass slipper to the beautiful maid, transforming her into a princess. Looking up at her mom, Gia said in awe, “Mommy, when I grow up I wanna be a princess and marry my own prince!”

BOOM i was so excited I hit it. Later that after noon my dad took me hunting. When we left got in the field we saw to small bucks and a turkey. After about two hours later my dad and i saw a okay sized 11 point . We were really excited. About five minutes after the deer came out we finally got a good soot at it. My dad could hardly see it, therefor he told me if I get a good shoot at it to shoot it. I shoot it with a 7 milliliter 08

(3 gun shots) Ohh shit I am hit. Help me please help me it hurts. (3 more gunshots) I can not believe he just got shot someone call 911 hurry up he bleeding please hurry up he is losing a lot of blood. Things could not be any worse, he just came home from college, how could they do that? He is innocent. He did not 5 deserve it, he is a good kid. We just fucked up big time. We should not have bought him around. It was not suppose to be like this. What do I tell our mom. I was suppose to watch after him and this happens.

I woke up drenched in sweat from the hot sticky humid air. It was 6:00 am. As I got ready for the day I began to feel exited because today was the day we would spend at the beach playing and splashing in the water riding the waves riding our boogie boards oh yes today was going to be fun! As I put on my swim suit I smelt the lingering smell of the oceans salty water from the previous time we had gone to the beach. It reminded me of how much fun I had, had and made me even more exited

First time? No. Last time? Possibly. The rays of July sun pound down, scorching my pale flesh, but I don’t feel it. Fear augments inside me; unsure my limits, I persist.

There it was, the diamond necklace.The light shining through the top of the glass case projecting a large shadow under the necklace.The necklace was a silver chain that had emerald pendants surrounded by diamonds dangling down.The thought of the many things I could trade for the necklace was racing in my mind but, getting my sister back chased the thought away.  The wooden floor squeaked as I drew my self-closer and closer to the glass stand barricading the necklace. I found myself hesitating as I got closer to the glass stand. I carefully placed my hand on the cold bare glass. I paused and played the many things that would happen once the glass was lifted from the stand.

Richard was too late. Josephine almost had a heart attack after seeing her husband, Brently, walk through the door. Josephine ran up to her husband and hugged him. She had tears rolling down her eyes but this time it was not tears of joy. Josephine wanted to enjoy the spring time by herself, she wanted her husband gone. She wiped away the tears and faked a smile. Then she said “I thought you were dead, what happened? Are you hurt?” Brently sits down with her and tells her that he missed the train and was staying in a hotel near the train station until the next day. He caught a taxi back home to surprise her with flowers and an 18-karat gold necklace. Josephine put the flowers in a vase and set it on the dining room table, then she walked into the kitchen and pulled out meat and vegetables to prepare dinner. She placed a plate of grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn in front of Brently. Brently had a huge smile on his face because it was his favorite meal and it was the meal they had on their first date in college. Brently tries talking about the day but Josephine sits there in silence. She cleans up after dinner and goes to sleep early. Josephine wakes up in the middle night and starts packing a suitcase. She sneaks out of the house around 5 a.m. to catch a train out of town. She takes three trains and gets on a boat to a secluded island off the west coast. She gets a part-time job at a local restaurant and buys a big house on the beach. The house has a

“One, two, LGU, goooooo United!” We ran out to the field, full of energy. I jumped up, slapping the crossbar with my glove. I always do this before most games that I play as the goalie, hoping that it will give me luck. It was a beautiful day for soccer. It was a bit hot, but we had three substitutes, so we were set. There was a slight breeze, but it wasn’t enough to blow the ball in any certain direction. This was our second game in the tournament, and we came out determined. We hadn’t lost in four games, and we weren’t going to stop now. The field wasn’t great- it had some rough patches near the goal -but that was okay. Most fields had rough spots like this, and I had grown accustomed to it. I flashed back to the last time we had played MVLA (the team we were against) in a tournament. We had lost. I remembered the sad faces, bent heads, and the gloom that seemed to hang over everything. We had waited a long time for this game. I had practiced extra hard in preparation for this tournament. I was nervous, but that fueled my determination to win. I closed my eyes, trying to get into my “zone”.

Tears cluster in my eyes. My heart pounds violently in my chest as I stand frozen–not able to think about anything except for the three words my dad told me. I am very close with my grandparents, Right now they don't live with each other they actually have not lived with each other for lord knows how long, but they still see each other my grandpa comes down to her apartment room for when he needs to take his medicine because he has diabetes. A typical weekend for me is to on friday afternoons I get picked up by my mom from school, Then my mom drops me off at my grandma’s apartment room. As soon as i walk in the door the smell of coffee fills my lungs, but it is not like the coffee with creamer it is black coffee it tastes like hot water with a bitter aftertaste, My grandma is watching ION like usual she is watching a crime show. I sat my things down on the couch and sat down with her she asks me if i want a PB&J sandwich and a pepsi of course like always i agree and excitedly wait for my food to be prepared, While i eat my food i hear a knock at the door i race to the door and ask who it is it is grandpa i swing the door open and hug him tightly i close the door behind him.

It was a hot and humid July day. It was an exciting day because my parents, my brother, and I were going to go to Bermuda very soon. My brother Robert kept yelling at me telling me to hurry up. Really, I was just too excited, there was not much time left and the great marine adventure awaited.

At the age of four, I sat in the car every summer morning alongside my mom, sister, brother, and cousins. We were headed somewhere magical. It was a place full of fun, adventure and new beginnings: tennis camp. After dropping off my siblings and cousins everyday, I felt devastated and full of envy. I had been dying to go, but I was too young. Too young to begin this chapter, too young to start something so fresh and new. All I wanted - all I ever asked for - was tennis camp.

It was just another long and boring day at work. There I was, shuffling three packs of fifty-two card decks. I did that for about ten minutes, and still no casino players showed up to my Black Jack table. I didn’t expect anything else; morning shifts were usually pretty dead. Eventually, people slowly started joining the game and before I knew it, it was 6 p.m. and Karisa was already waiting outside for me. Karisa and I were best friends for ten years since high school and we carpool every night since she works at the daycare centre